Mouthpiece buzzing, or playing on just the mouthpiece of a brass instrument, is widely practiced by many outstanding players and is advocated by many leading teachers of brass instruments. It permits the player to concentrate on the proper technique of buzzing without the distraction of hearing the instrument itself. Various facets of buzzing may be practiced including achieving proper intonation, manipulating the mouthpiece with the lips, e.g. downward on the lips for high notes and upward on the lips for low notes, ensuring the proper embouchure, and maintaining correct body posture with respect to the mouthpiece.
Traditionally, the mouthpiece is buzzed by simply holding it between the index finger and thumb of the left hand and placing it directly up against the mouth. However, as is apparent to one who has both played a brass instrument and practiced mouthpiece buzzing, there is a considerable difference in the physical feel of the mouthpiece when the instrument is not used to support it. This difference in feel may contribute to the development of habits during buzzing which do not aid and even detract from the proper technique for playing the instrument. For example, when holding the mouthpiece in the fingers, there is a tendency for the player to over-manipulate the mouthpiece on the lips to achieve the proper intonation. When the player returns to the instrument, he is disappointed to find that this extra manipulation is not possible. A mirror is often used to check the position of the mouthpiece but the hand partially obstructs the view of parts of the player's body, including the neck, chin, etc. These and other differences make traditional mouthpiece buzzing not as helpful as it could be in learning proper playing technique.
Applicant has developed a mouthpiece practice holder which provides virtually the identical hold, feel and action of the left hand, and thus the mouthpiece, as in the actual playing of the instrument. In playing, the left hand supports the instrument, controls the pressure of the mouthpiece against the lips, operates rings and triggers on valve slides, and accomplishes the tilting or pivoting of the mouthpiece on the lips through movement of the left wrist. Generally, the right hand is used to operate the valves and does not have a substantial effect on the player's embouchure. Applicant's mouthpiece practice holder includes a base which may be made of wood or the like and is designed to provide substantially the same envelope or feel for the left hand as if the player was holding the instrument itself. A mouthpiece rod extends outwardly from the base and supports a receiver to hold the mouthpiece. Both the mouthpiece rod and receiver may be made of stainless steel or the like. The mouthpiece rod is of sufficient size and shape to orient the left hand in substantially the same position as during play of the instrument. Thus, with applicant' s holder, the left hand and the mouthpiece are in substantially the same orientation for buzzing as when the instrument is played which greatly increases the benefits from mouthpiece buzzing. This eliminates the tendency to develop the bad habit of over-manipulation, permits the development of proper embouchure and posture, contributes to the proper pivoting technique for low and high notes, and does not affect the intonation of the mouthpiece.
Modifications may be made to applicant's main embodiment to further enhance the benefits from practice playing. For example, spring loaded push rods, or the like, which serve as practice valves, may be provided to enable the player to "finger" the note he is buzzing through the mouthpiece. This gives the player something to do with his right hand and also makes possible the "playing over" of difficult passages to smooth out the valve fingering in cooperation with the proper lip technique. As any horn player knows, typically there are only a few troublesome passages which require the bulk of a player's concentration and practice time before an entire musical piece can be mastered. With the practice valves added to applicant's mouthpiece practice holder, the most important elements of playing these passages, embouchure, valve fingering, and mouthpiece buzzing and intonation may be worked on under almost exactly the same conditions as with the horn.
Another feature of applicant's invention includes a rimpiece holder which slides into the receiver and supports a rim only of a mouthpiece through which the lips may be observed as they buzz. Although the use of mouthpiece rims supported by a handle are known from the prior art, these devices do not begin to simulate the brass instrument and the relative positioning of the hands, the pressure of the leader pipe against the mouthpiece rim, etc. as is experienced in the actual playing of the instrument. With applicant's rimpiece holder, the rim may be held against the mouth, and the lips observed under almost the exactly same conditions of pressure, hand location, resistance to manipulation and positioning as is actually experienced during the playing of the instrument. Thus, a player's embouchure may be observed, corrected, and practiced under the proper conditions to ensure its proper development.
Included in applicant's mouthpiece holder is a guide and tightener which is used to adjustably position a mouthpiece rod a variable distance from a base. Applicant's guide and tightener may be slightly modified and used separately as a replacement for the conventional clamping device used in flugelhorns and the like to tune the instrument. In a typical flugelhorn, tuning is achieved by loosening a thumbscrew type clamp which fixedly positions a movable pipe section in the leader pipe or in the tuning bell area. The problem with the prior art tuning device is that the thumbscrew type clamp does not allow accurate repositioning to adjust the tune of the instrument as the pipe must be loosened from its fixed position, retightened in position and the instrument played to determine its new pitch. Thus, it is necessary to move the pipe to a guessed at "in tune" position, tighten the thumbscrew clamp, and then play the key note to determine the instrument's tune. Very often, the first guess is incorrect and subsequent guesses must be made to bring the instrument closer into tune. Each time, the thumbscrew clamp must be loosened and the mouthpiece nudged into a new position. As is evident, this is a rather clumsy procedure to achieve tuning of an instrument and is not nearly as desirable as the infinitely adjustable slide crooks generally provided on trumpets and other brass instruments.
Applicant's modified guide and tightener may be used to provide the infinitely variable and controlled tuning action of an adjustable slide crook in a flugelhorn and any other instrument using the conventional thumbscrew clamp. A double threaded adjustment nut mounts the mouthpiece to the leader pipe so that the mouthpipe may be moved in or out merely by turning the adjustment nut. The pitch or tune of the instrument changes as the mouthpipe is moved into or out of the leader pipe and much greater control over this movement is possible as the adjustment nut ensures positive positioning and even movement not heretofore possible with the prior art device. The instrument may even be played as the tuning is adjusted and the tuning may be finely changed to bring the instrument exactly into tune.
These and other advantages of applicant's invention may be more fully appreciated by referring to the drawings and the description of the preferred embodiment.